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The texture of these cranberry orange scones is phenomenal – billowy soft and crumbly (as evidenced by the next picture). My sister Tanya hosted a ladies brunch/ girls tea party and these were my contribution. Remember the princess party? That’s the one! Everyone loved that these scones weren’t overly sweet (the scones themselves have just 3 Tbsp sugar!) – it’s a fairly low-guilt dessert.
The base of this recipe is modified from the strawberry scones that I guest posted for Better Homes and Gardens. The idea for the orange flavoring and glaze is based on Ina Garten’s Cranberry Orange Scones.
Ingredients for Cranberry Orange Scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour *measured correctly
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp grated orange zest (from 1/2 orange)
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream + 1 Tbsp to brush the top
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 Tbsp coarse/raw sugar to sprinkle the top, optional
Ingredients for the Orange Glaze:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice plus a pinch of orange zest
How to Make Cranberry Orange Scones:
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
1. In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, 3 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 Tbsp grated orange zest. Add butter pieces and using a pastry cutter (or 2 knives), cut butter into mixture until you have coarse pea-sized crumbs.
2. Toss in 3/4 cup dried cranberries and stir gently to combine. Make a well in the center and set aside
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Pour egg mixture into the flour mixture and use a spatula to stir just until moistened. tip: don’t wash the dish with your cream/egg mix. Add a little cream to it and use it to brush the scone in the next step!
4. Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface and pull it together into a round disk, about 3/4″ thick. Cut disk into 12 equal wedges and pull apart slightly. Brush tops of scones with 1 Tbsp heavy cream and sprinkle the top with raw sugar if desired. Bake 15-17 min until golden (mine took 16 min)
5. Remove scones from the hot baking sheet and let cool 15 min then whisk together 2/3 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice, adding more or less to desired thickness then drizzle over cranberry scones.
Cranberry Orange Scones Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 Tbsp grated orange zest, from 1/2 orange, plus more for glaze
- 1/2 cup 1 stick cold butter, cut into chunks
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream + 1 Tbsp to brush the top
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 Tbsp coarse/raw sugar to sprinkle the top, optional
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, sift together 2 cups flour, 3 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 Tbsp grated orange zest.
- Add butter pieces and using a pastry cutter (or 2 knives), cut butter into mixture until you have coarse pea-sized crumbs.
- Toss in 3/4 cup dried cranberries and stir gently to combine. Make a well in the center and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 eggs and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Pour egg mixture into the flour mixture and use a spatula to stir just until moistened.
- Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface and pull it together into a round disk, about 3/4" thick. Cut disk into 12 equal wedges and pull apart slightly. Brush tops of scones with 1 Tbsp heavy cream and sprinkle with raw sugar if desired. Bake 15-17 min until golden (mine took 16 min).
- Remove scones from the hot baking sheet and let cool 15 min then whisk together 2/3 cup powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice and a pinch of orange zest. Add more or less powdered sugar or orange juice to reach desired thickness then drizzle over scones.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Have you tried scones? What’s your favorite variety?
why is that that your recipes Natasha always turned out sooo good ?!
scones were so good , we were almost arguing who gets the last one))) I didn’t have dry cranberries so I put dry cherries, but you couldn’t tell the difference. what I really like about this recipe its only takes half an hour to make it. and it looks and tastes awesome. this recipe, as all of yours, deserves 5 stars !
Thank you for the wonderful compliment and for sharing your awesome review Anya! 🙂
Omg! This recipe is really amazing! I just made the scones. I only added a little bit more sugar (1/2 cup) and cut the dough in 6 pieces. These are the perfect scones to a Saturday/Sunday coffee! 🙂 Thank you Natasha!
You’re welcome Anna! I’m so happy to hear how much you love them! 🙂
How should they be stored? Can I freeze them after they are baked to serve later? I’m so happy to find this recipe as I have a ton of dried cranberries I need to use and my daughter has a middle school Christmas fair she is selling these at for their country they’ve studied–the UK. 🙂
Lynel, I haven’t tried freezing them but usually they are stored at room temperature in the air tight container.
Great recipe! What I added, was to place the mixture in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight and before placing it in the oven, I let it rest at room temperature at least 30 min. The scones will rise more and become much fluffier.
Simona, thank you for the tip and for the nice review 😬.
I made the scones yesterday and loved it! This recipe will be a part of my Christmas baking! Thanks.
I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂
Hi Natasha! I made your scones with different fruit many, many times and they’re always yummy:-) thank you! But I have a question – I’d like to make a batch for my husband to take to work with him, can I make the dough the night before and bake the scones in the morning?
Hi Nata, it’s possible but keep in mind that refrigerated scones don’t rise as well as freshly made scones. If making overnight, don’t sprinkle on the sugar until ready to bake and let them sit at room temp before baking while your oven preheats. It may take longer to bake depending on how cold they were when you put them in the oven. I hope that helps! 🙂
Sounds delicious! I love scones but have recently become gluten intolerant. Have you by any chance experimented with gluten free flours?
Hi Robin, I haven’t experimented with gluten free flour for this recipe so I can’t really make any recommendations on that. If you experiment, I would love to know how it works out 🙂
Hi Natasha, this recipe seems delicious! Can I use chocolate chips instead of dried cranberries and how much?
Hi Esther, it really depends on how sweet you like your scones since chocolate chips will add sweetness. I would add an equal amount or up to 1 cup chocolate chips.
Literally just made this! Natashka you are so awesome!! My family absolutely enjoyed this recipe. It wasn’t too sweet, and it’s perfect for the times when guests come unexpectedly and you don’t have anything sweet for tea😉
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for the awesome review 🙂
The first time I made these they turned out a little hard to mix together so next time I added less flour and had a much easier time “pulling it all together.” Also, my family wasn’t a huge fan of the orange-flavored drizzle so made it with milk the second time. I ended up adding cut-up fresh apricots to the scones and they were GOOD!
I’m already a scone-fan, once I discovered how easy they are to make, I’ll think twice before handing Starbucks my money 😛 Thanks, Natasha!
Taisa, thank you for the nice review and you are welcome 😁.
Another WINNER WINNER WINNER!!! Fantastic scones – seriously belong at the café bakery!!! Recipe is very simple & equally delicious. I did not have an orange on hand, ended up using mandarins. Added more zest and made glaze from mandarin juice – BOMB! Thanks again for an A+ recipe. Utica, NY
That is quite a compliment! Thank you so much 🙂
Made these with frozen raspberries, lemon zest and lemon glaze instead. So soft and delish! Perfect easy dessert for the unexpected guest! 😉
Mmm wow that combination sounds so good!
Wow, these Cranberry Orange Scones look like fluffy clouds, yummy! Pinning these beauties. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious goodness!
Thank you so much for pinning and sharing! You’re awesome 🙂
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I just made them and Omg the BEST scone recipe I have come across… I will only be using this one and modifying it for different things…. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! Thank you so much!! 😄
Jessica, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review and you are welcome! 😀
This is the best Scone recipe I have found, it is amazing. I will be adapting it to every different flavor sweet and savory. Very moist and has a wonderful texture. It is the cream that does it and they don’t dry out in the next few days as you finish them off.
Awesome!! I’m so happy you found it and love it! Keep me posted if you try a new winning flavor combination! 🙂
I used this recipe and it turned out really yummy! I substituted chocolate instead of cranberries (I have a sweet tooth :)) and loved it so much!
Thanks for this great recipe.
Wow chocolatey scones sound fabulous! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe. The only difference with my oven is that it took 40 min to get them brown. I have a photo but I couldnt find a place to post it.
Also because I did not do the frosting on top, they came out in between sweet&savory. So next time, I can add one more table spoon of sugar.
I will also try the same recipe with feta cheese and dill.
Thank you Natasha
Love
Sahane
Oh wow feta and dill sound wonderful! I’d love to see your picture. If you have a facebook account, you could upload it to my facebook page: facebook.com/natashaskitchenpage
Hi Natasha, these scones are amazing! Rarer so good!! Didn’t have oranges or lemons, so just left it out, is these any other zest you could put? Thanks!
I really only put either orange or lemon zest into recipes, sometimes I’ll use zest from clementines if I’m out of oranges 🙂 I’m so happy you loved the scones! 🙂
Hi Natasha, I want to make these today but I have fresh cream. After searching things up heavy whipping cream has around 30 pre cent more fat.
Would it work? Thanks!!
Hi Lana, I haven’t tried it with that substitute personally but 2 of my readers have said that they used regular milk and the recipe still worked well. I’m assuming it would work with fresh cream but again, I haven’t tested it that way myself. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hi Natasha, I did these yesterday with halved and quartered strawberries but they didn’t come out right. I am sure I used dry ingredients in dry mesuring cups and same for liquid. But.. I did add a little more baking powder, maybe 1/2 or 3/4 tsp . They were very very sticky so I oil just put them in a muffin tin. So when I baked them they were in the oven for about 30 odd minutes. They were brown and very dense as if they were raw. But still tastes nice warmed. Any idea what went wrong?
Thanks!!😆😆
HI Lana, I’m always happy to help troubleshoot. The recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of baking powder -did you use 1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp? If you used more than what the recipe called for, I’m wondering if maybe your baking powder was no longer fresh, especially if they did not rise? Did you substitute any of the ingredients – like using Canadian flour vs all-purpose American flour (lower gluten content than Canadian), or substitute anything else in the recipe?
Yes, I did add milk instead. The scones did rise and get round and golden at the top. Maybe because my baking powder was double action. I’m not sure but will definitely try again in a couple of weeks (and will buy cream)
Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing that!!! That’s really great and healthier! 🙂
If you’re using whole milk instead of heavy creamer you need to add sour cream.
1 cup heavy whipped cream = 1/2 cup sour cream + 1/2 cup whole milk…
Thanks for sharing that!
Hello Natasha… I made those scones yesterday except that I didn’t put any orange zest or juice and glaze. What I did I only added cranberries. Oh it turned out good as one that I always make cranberries scones from American Test Kitchen.
Just want to share few tips from my previous experience. # 1. All purpose flour for scones and other flowers such as cake flour or self rising flour or Canadian flour is for cakes, not good for scones… #2. Do not over mix butter. # 3. Put cold butter into food processor and it will process into small beats – which is good. #4. Bake them either on cooling rack or non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat – this will prevent burning bottom of the scones which it does from my previous experience when I have used aluminum foil. #5. And of course I have bake them at 425 o F for 12-13 minutes and position of the rack has to be in the middle of the oven this means that scones will raise steady. #6 always bake on bake mode not roast mode – I know it is dump but I made this mistake with Paska and never again… lol
Thanks for recipe. I really enjoy it actually my husband. He loves them.
Definitely recommend to make it but for the beginners I will suggest to read all of the tips and tricks how to bake perfect scones
Thank you for sharing your tips! 🙂